How do you home school your children ?

Question

i mean my children not myself

Answer 1

We're very eclectic.  I use what works for each different child.  They all use Math U See but other then that they use different things.

For example:  we use Apologia Science for one,  A Reason for Science for another and the Teaching Tank for another.  

We don't do any online schooling because I would count that more as school at home rather then home schooling.

Answer 2

Online with Allied National High School. It's great and easy.!

Answer 3

Im home schooled,But i`m not in a home schooling groups.

Answer 4

Are you asking how to start homeschooling (find out the legalities, find resources, plan lessons, find a support group, etc.) or are you wondering how we individually homeschool?

(If it's the first, please clarify and I'll edit that info in.  I'm assuming it's the second.)

I homeschool my 5th grade son, but as he tests several years above grade level in various subjects (and is also dyslexic), our curriculum is all over the board.  We do a lot of lapbooks, which are research-based visual organizers full of paper manipulatives.  These allow him to research at his own level and keep his notes and reports in a way that makes sense to him.  We do this for history, science, geography, literature, and other subjects.

We also do a lot of notebooking, which can cover everything from his reports to a scrapbook-ish type of page.  It's basically a collection of all sorts of research about a subject.

He's a very auditory learner, so there are usually CDs and audio books playing at any given time.  The amount of information he retains from these amazes me, it really does.

He reads a lot, listens a lot, and does a lot of projects.  I also integrate his Scout badges with a lot of his school subjects, as they tend to be very complete and he loves earning them.  

Here's what he's doing right now:

Math - we're just finishing up Math U See decimals, percentages and ratios (Zeta), and starting on a curriculum written by NASA that integrates math and physics in the study of aviation and space flight.  Should be fun :-)

Science - Apologia Swimming Creatures (marine biology).  We should be finished with this in another 2-3 weeks, at which point we'll start Botany.  He lapbooks a lot with this.

History and Geography - we're notebooking a study on states and presidents, where we study, map, and timeline the states as they came into the Union.  We're also integrating a study on the Presidents as they fit in chronologically.  It's pretty interesting - we're reading a lot with this and seeing a lot of the political and social causes of the events that happened throughout the past couple hundred years.  (We'll be starting a curriculum called TRISMS this summer, which will cover pretty much every subject except math and lab science on this same basic concept.  That will carry him through high school.)

Bible - we're working through a Beth Moore Bible study on the patriarchs, it's a lot of fun.

Spanish - The Easy Spanish.  He loves it!

Writing - IEW, integrated with the rest of his subjects.

Language Arts - Shurley English 6th Grade.

Scouts - Oh lands, he's usually got 2-3 badges going at any one time.  Right now he's working on First Aid, Dog Care, Electricity, and Electronics.  

I work all of this into daily lesson plans for him and put his assignment list in a stack with his resources for that day.  He works through them, pulling me over for the subjects that we do together.  Otherwise, he's pretty independent, just asking me whenever he has a question.  His math is DVD based (until we get up and running with the NASA program), and his science book has a lot of resources online.

We add in different projects and experiments whenever they fit in, and he does plenty of things like swim day, game night, and programs at the library and at church.  He also plays competitive baseball and is in a play.  I don't know how he fits it all in - I'd lose my mind - but he loves it!  He's challenged at his level, gets to learn about what interests him, and I can make sure that his skills work is integrated into everything that he does.

Hope that helps!

Answer 5

I use Abeka for math, phonics and language arts, and we read, do projects and go on field trips for everything else. We are very much into having a lifestyle of learning.

Here's some information on homeschooling methods:

http://www.successful-homeschooling.com/...

No two home schools are the same.  Think of your goals for your children and their learning styles to find the method that is best for you.

Hope that helps!

Answer 6

We're pretty eclectic-- we do some book work but also a lot of hands-on work, discussions, field trips, experiments, research, taking classes, getting involved in volunteer work or projects, etc.

Answer 7

We built our own curriculum and set our own schedule.

Answer 8

Depends on finances, state laws and experience.  You can teach things you know that are useful, the rest comes from source materials like books or complete programs.

Since my mother was both a professional musician and worked in the computer field she taught me music notation, theory, arranging, typing and computer essentials.  Some of it when I was 5 and 6.

Answer 9

We use eclectic style. I love unit studies for things that my kids are interested. I love unit studies. My kids both like them because we follow their interests. My daughter does gardening, sewing, cooking, and beagles. Both of my kids are doing beagles because they have 10 month old beagles that they would like to train.

My kids each learn differently. My 7th grader has to know why 2+2=4. My 4th grader just doesn't care about math. It is challenging to teach each of them math because my 7th grader is always thinking there is more to math problems. He over thinks them because "it just can't be that easy" My 4th grader struggles and I have to work with her. Sometimes it ends in tears and we just stop for the day and pick up the next day.

On a normal day, I give them each what they are to accomplish that day and they go for it. I can care less if they do it all in one sitting or if they do school then watch tv then do school then play a game then do school ...... as long as it's done each day. I don't have a "wake up" time or a bed time for them. We are very flexible in our schedule. It works for us.

Answer 10

Home schooling is part of how we live, it is a natural extension of raising our children, we simply add academics, and follow up with extra activities in the area's that the children are most interested in.

We went from a classical approach (eclectic) to a more relaxed one once we saw that they were solid in the basics, and this morphed into their independent unschooling approach.

The children learn much by doing, they have their books, and a ton of materials at their fingertips when needed, but most importantly they know how to learn, where to find the resources they need, or search out someone who has experience in what they want to learn.

We do not look at home schooling as doing school @ home, they have learned that there is a huge difference between schooling, and learning.

Learning to us is not limited, or confined to a schedule like you would find in a conventional school.

Answer 11

For our Daughter (be 6 in April) learning just comes naturally (which it should with every child). We don't force her to learn things that she has no interest in, but we do take the opportunity to teach her thru everyday life activities and just thru everything we do. Little does she know that we are teaching her how to read, how to do math, science, biology, history, etc. She thinks wow how fun and exciting to learn about these things. I just don't give it a second thought. She is a very bright child that I just give her the tools to learn and she learns. Everyday is an adventure.

She has already learned how to plan out meals by making up her own menus, writing her list of ingredients with my help on how to spell the words, making it according to how to find it in the store by memory and not by my doing, picking out the items and looking to see how much they cost and writing that down, learning about how many bills and coins to give to the lady to pay for the food, preparing the food and even reading the fractions on how much to add, putting the food together, serving it to the family.

She helps me put clean around the house and will help me make up a list of what needs to be done in order and check it off as we go along double checking everything that we have done.

We go out and do birdwatching, she gets out her fieldguide and looks up the birds according to markings that she has observed, she knows about places certain birds might be and we go on adventures with her directions like for instance- she will say, "heh, there is a canal near Grandma's house I bet we can find those cranes there." "Let's go and look Momma." She will take pictures of them if we have our camera. She will come home and draw pictures of them and we look them up on the internet and learn all about them. We do that with any of the animals we see while we are out and about.

She has learned how to count up to 1000 and beyond with the help of playing Star Wars Lego game with Daddy each night. Also just counting things as we go along in the car for fun. We also play I Spy.

She is big on board games and making up her own games.

She does 300 piece puzzles with ocassional help from me to get them all sorted according to flat and regular, but she does the rest.

She is writing and reading not because she has sat down to books, but because she just decided one day she wanted to write and I showed her and she did it on her own. Lots of practice.

She enjoys free form art and already knows about all the mediums you can use in Art. She tells everyone, "Art is a way to express yourself." "It doesn't matter what the outcome is." They just laugh. It is true.

She loves gardening and learning about the different plants and flowers.

Anyhoo, I could go on and on, but people don't reliaze that children learn thru everything you model to them and do it in their own time.

I am in no rush for her to learn things before she is ready. She will let me know and it is then that I will give her the tools to learn in a fun and interesting manner.

Answer 12

i go online at pennfoster.com